


when heaven burns

by wethethousands (atlantisairlock)



Category: Birds of Prey (Comic), DCU
Genre: Dark, F/F, Serial Killers, Universe Alteration, Weird Plot Shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-26
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-22 15:38:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2512913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlantisairlock/pseuds/wethethousands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes five bodies before Gotham realizes it's dealing with a serial killer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when heaven burns

It takes five bodies before Gotham realizes it's dealing with a serial killer. 

It takes ten bodies before it starts to become the media story of the year. 

It takes fifteen bodies before Babs gets her Birds on the scene.

 

 

Two weeks after the first murder, the confirmed body count of the mysterious serial killer is estimated to be about just over a hundred. Furious emails flood the inboxes of the authorities; family members are baying for blood; every day's news headline is about the same as the previous day's. 

Babs is no closer to finding the murderer than she was fourteen days ago, and she retires to bed every night with fists clenched and darkness swimming before her eyes.

 

 

A hundred and fifty deaths and there are two Birds amongst them. 

Two hundred deaths and Dinah wakes her up at three-thirty in the morning telling Babs she  _knows_ who's doing it and she's going out to get them and she'll be back before sunset.

Three hundred deaths and Dinah never returns.

Three hundred and fifty deaths and Helena comes into her office one afternoon, takes her hand and says "I want to show you something."

She should know better - but Babs says "okay".

 

 

When she sees the sheer number of dead bodies strewn on the street Babs thinks she screams, or at least she wants to, but it dies in her throat. Helena doesn't seem fazed by the way the tarmac is stained crimson with blood, just kneels down in front of her, and for the first time Babs notices just how wild and distraught her expression is. 

She opens with a truth - "I would kill for you, Babs." It's raw and honest and so  _Huntress_ , so ready to pledge fealty and maybe even something more."I would walk to the ends of the earth for you. I joined the Birds because of Dinah, and I'm indebted to her, but if I needed to shoot her through the throat for your sake I would." She gestures desperately at the sea of corpses with some sort of fear in her eyes, and Babs sees blonde hair, blank eyes, mouth wrenched open in a twisted silent Canary Cry. "Babs _._ I had to. They were going to hurt you; all of them.  _I had to."_

She can't see, she can't breathe, she's gripping the spokes of her wheelchair and the cold metal bites harsh into her skin. "No..." 

Hel doesn't seem to hear her, cups her face in her hands and presses a kiss against her lips and Babs tastes the metallic tang of blood, bitter desolation and lemon-sour horror. She kisses back, so warm and intense that Hel doesn't even notice when the knife slides through her ribs and into her heart.

Babs' hand is still trembling when the girl she loves falls to the ground with a soft thud, one more amongst the dead. 

The blade clatters dull on the gravel, stained ruby-red. 


End file.
